The Casual Christian

I really appreciate Mr. Adam's sermon, because it built up as a good introduction into the sermon, which again shows who is in control of services, and God is in control, and really is a blessing. As Mr. Adams was saying, people in the world are compromising. There's really an attitude in the world of compromising and accepting other things of the world. Now, what I did is I went into the web and I picked up a little report called Casual Christians and the Future of America. A very interesting report. It's often a group entitled the Barna Group. Have you heard of George Barna? A very well-known researcher in Christian trends and religious beliefs, British way. He wrote the book, and this is kind of an interview with George Barna about the book. He wrote the book entitled Seven Faith Tribes, Who They Are, What They Believe, and Why They Matter. In this article, Barna Update, of May 22nd, 2009, I want to read a few points, yeah, of what it says. Then we want to go into a little more detail. It says, yeah, in the book, Barna outlines seven diverse faith segments, profiling their lifestyles, religious beliefs, practices, values, and life goals. The seven tribes include, now listen to the names, casual Christians, captive Christians, Mormons, Jews, pantheists, Muslims, and skeptics.

Okay, so we kind of divided into kind of groups with, and the interesting thing is the percentages of how many people fit in America, and this was dated 2009, so it's not that old, how many people in the States fall into those different groups? It says, during the course of the conversation, Barna answered a series of questions about the largest and potentially most powerful tribe of those which you guess, which is the largest and most powerful tribe. Okay, let me repeat the names of the tribes. Casual Christians, captive Christians, Mormons, Jews, pantheists, Muslims, and skeptics. So which one is the largest? Okay, let's... the most powerful tribe, the casual Christians. Barna studies indicate that casual Christians represent... now, what percentage would you think of the American populace, according to his little division, casual Christians would be? Now, the number is very interesting.

You talk to think and write it down in your brain, and then it says 66% of the adult population of the United States. So the percentage of adult population represented by the other half-dozen tribes included. Now, these are the numbers quite interesting. 16% who are captive Christians. It was a little bit more committed to their religion. 2% are Jews. 2% are Mormons. 2% are pantheists. One-half of 1% are Muslims. And 11% are skeptics. Now, it's very interesting to look at these statistics and say, wow, you know. Again, it goes back to what Mr. Adams was saying quite often. It's this squeaking wheel that makes the most noise. And it's a little wheel out there, but it sounds as if they're so big, you know. But anyway, interesting, it goes on. The question he asks is, to Barna says, you describe the casual Christian tribe as, now, in a few words, think about what he described the casual Christian tribe as. Think it in your brain. Okay. He described it as spiritually middle of the road.

It's interesting. Spiritually middle of the road. Perhaps even ambivalent about their faith. Why, then, are they so important to the nation's future? And then Barna says, each of the seven tribes is important to our nation's future because they include millions of American citizens. The casual Christian tribe is especially significant because it represents a huge majority of the nation's population. Two out of every three adults. Yeah, 66%, that's what it is. Two out of every three adults are casual Christians, are spiritually middle of the road. Now, you think about prophecy and things and you start slotting that in your brain now what it means and how it affects and influences us as true Christians. And then he goes on and says, the question then is the following. He says, what have you found to be the appeal of casual Christianity? And then Barna says, casual Christianity is faith in moderation. What a way of putting it. It allows them to feel religious without having to prioritize their faith. Christianity is a low risk, predictable position of fullness tribe, providing a faith perspective that is not demanding. A casual Christian can be all things that they esteem. They can be a nice human being. They can be a family person. They can be religious. They can be an exemplary citizen, a reliable employee.

And never have to publicly defend or present difficult moral or social positions. We will lose much sleep over the proper choices as long as they mean well and generally do their best. From their perspective, the brand of faith practice is genuine, realistic and practical. To them, casual Christianity is the best of all worlds. It encourages them to be a better person than if they've been irreligious. Yet, it's not a faith in which they feel compelled to heavily invest themselves.

Wow! Matthew, think, doesn't it? Matthew, think.

Now, this is the state of faith in the society you and I live in. Now, does it affect us? Does it run upon us? It has to. It has to. And it's not a unique problem to the society, brethren. In fact, it was a problem that existed at the time of Christ and the Apostles.

So, today I want to show you a few scriptures out of Christ's life, where it showed this sort of attitude being prevalent then as well.

Some of them from the Apostles. Because the issue was not just what is true and false, but it was also the thing of being compromising, as we heard in the sermon. And then I want to cover what must we do about it, as individuals, as Christians, so that we are not infected by it. I use the word infected as a virus, you know, being infected. So, let's look at Christ, what he said. But in this case, what he prophesied after he resurrected, and he gave a prophecy to all of us.

And that prophecy is actually in Revelation. Revelation is basically Christ's prophecy, and a lot of the Revelation is all in red leather, which is basically Christ's words. But right at the end of the first chapter, in verse 20, we read Revelation 1, verse 20.

He says, The seven stars, which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels, which were the messengers of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands, which you saw, are the seven churches. And so, Yah is a prophecy of Christ written to the seven churches, the lampstands, the lights standing on a hill, like a lampstand, he put it on top of a hill, so the light may shine, and the church, we are supposed to be alive, an example to society.

And so, he wrote to these messages to these seven churches. And so, in chapter 2 and 3, we have the messages to these seven churches. Now, we can read this in four ways, and they all are true. One, the seven churches are basically examples of how those cities, or those areas have certain attributes, physical attributes, and also, how spiritual, which could be extrapolated into the future for our admonition.

And so, we all, it's good to look at the situation of those cities, and learn some lessons from those areas, in those cities, and very valuable to us. So, it applied to that time. It also applies to all of us individually. It also does, because at the end of each one of the letters, it always says, you know, he who has a year, letting year what the Spirit says to the churches.

So, to each one of us says, hey, listen to what it says to the others. So, they're all applicable to all of us. So, it's attitudes that, in a sense, are prevalent in all churches, in parallel, at the same time. So, we could have people in the church today that have that first love, and we could have people in the church today that are lukewarm, all in parallel, at the same time.

So, we have to analyze and look at ourselves and make sure that we are overcoming in all these areas, because we're supposed to look at all of them. The third one, the third way of approaching it, is that there are church years throughout the 2000 years, let's call it, of the church age, throughout these 2000 years of the church age. There are church years, and each one represented a number of years or centuries of the history of the church.

And that is also true. So, all of these are true. And the fourth is a combination of them all, which is also possible. And it's also, you know, it's each one applies, things apply to us, applies to that area, applies to the areas of the church, and all of them are true. So, we can look at it in those four ways. So, it is all applicable to us, but let's look at the last letter, Revelation 3, in verses 14 and 15.

We're just going to read those two verses initially. And it says, And to the angel of the church of Allah, the sihans, and that's the last era. And the last era, if we look at church, from the concept of church eras, would mean kind of the last few years before Christ is coming, to just say it to plainly that way. And therefore, it will be an attitude which would be prevalent amongst God's people. I'm not talking about an organization, because I'm not talking about organization. God's church is a spiritual organism. So, you could have people with these different attitudes in any organization. So, I'm not talking about organizations.

I'm talking about God's spiritual body to the church. And so, it's an attitude that could be existing in God's spiritual body to the church at the last era, particularly because it's being affected by society, as we've seen. Two-thirds of society is that way.

And so, that wraps on to us. We live in the society, and it's being affected. So, let's continue. The answer of the Church of the Lord is right. These things say that, Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. And basically means He's the source, He's the beginner, He's the one that, through Him, started the whole creation.

And it is the beginning. In other words, it's Christ's thinking. I know your words, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.

As Barna puts it, it's spiritual middle of the road. I think it's such a good analogy to be neither cold nor hot. It's spiritually middle of the road. It really is a good way. And so, He says, what are they? He says, they are two-thirds of the adults in this denomination, and it's a huge population, spiritually middle of the road. And it is important to us, because it's such a high percentage, and it affects us.

It is important to us. So, the question is, can it affect us? Of course it can. You know, the letters to all the church areas, even to the Laodiceans, right there at the end of that chapter in verse 22, it says, Who has a year, a letting year, what the Spirit says to the churches? So, we have to listen to this and say, well, if this is affecting us in some degree or other, we need to be careful and act accordingly, make sure that it's not affecting us.

So, that's what they are. What is the appeal? Now, let me read again from this section, the appeal. It says, casual Christianity, it says, what it found to be the appeal, it says, it's fake in moderation, allows them to feel religious without having to prioritize their faith. Prioritizing their faith is an important point. Do we prioritize our faith? Or do we just look at it and say, well, we've got to be balanced, and therefore, we'll be spiritual, we've got to be careful, because we do have to be balanced. We do have to have a sound mind. God's spirit is the spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. There is balance. But are we balanced in a way that we're not prioritizing and putting God first? That's where they're going to go. And so, let's look at an example of Christ. As I mentioned, I'll look at the time of Christ, and we're going to look at Luke 12, the 12th chapter of Luke. And we're going to be jumping between Revelation and Luke 12 a few times, or run about those sections a few times. So, if you have markers to put in there, it might help you. So, I'm going to put some of those markers up there, so we can come back and forward easily. But we're going to look at verse 49 through 53, Luke 12. And verse 49 says, I came to send fire on earth, and I wish it was already kindled. How I wish it was already burning. What does it mean? Christ came to burn the sin out of the earth, to burn the whole planet, so that the new heaven and new earth can come. And that's kind of the last thing he does in his process of coming to earth. First he had the first coming, then he has the second coming, then he has the millennium, he has what we call the last great day, or the hundred years, as we think it is, a hundred years. And then, at the end of that, there is the complete burn of the earth, and then a new heaven, and a new Jerusalem, and all that. So, Christ came for that ultimate end purpose to burn all sin out of the earth, and I wish it was already there. That's what Christ said. But, I have a baptism to be baptized with, and I'll distress I am till it is accomplished. In other words, I have to go through what you understand is the symbol of baptism. What is the symbol of baptism? Baptism is that you and I have to die in the world to be great, representing the death of Christ. So, I have to go through my sacrifice, through my own physical death. That's going to be the baptism he's going to go through, which represents baptism to us, right? So, I have a baptism to be baptized with. I have to die physically first. And how to stress on him to be disaccomplished. How to stress I am till I've done that, because, you know, I feel pain, I know I can feel pain, and it's a stressful thing until that happens. So, that's what he's saying.

So, the question is, I've got a couple of questions. Yeah, we're going to come back to it like this. Is he committed? Is he heavily invested? Wow, he's heavily invested in this. He's heavily invested. But, go on. Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? Do you think that I came to just compromise with everything, and water everything down, and smooth everything down like we heard in the sermon? You know, I just came to just smooth things out and just say, everything is nice, you know, we'll compromise, we'll make it nicely. I tell you, not at all, but rather division.

Christ came, as it says here, to bring division.

For from now on, five in one house will be divided. Three against two, and two against three. Others people are called and know the truth. Then they have to stand up. They've got to prioritize their faith. And when they prioritize their faith, they cannot compromise with their faith in the daily system. And therefore, it's going to cause a vision between those that compromise and those that do not compromise.

This is, father will be divided against the son, and son against the father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother and daughter against the daughter and daughter and daughter against the mother and daughter. So, there's going to be some division. You see, Christ is saying, my teaching is going to upset some people.

So, no wonder, you know, somebody like the president may say, look, I don't want to upset anybody, because I want to get the vote, so I'm going to try and smooth it over, you know? So, we can see that compromising. Brethren, our beliefs will upset some people. However, we have to use wisdom.

Because we are in the semanet, we use wisdom. How we do certain things. That means that we're going to kind of just go out and, like, a bull in a china shop and just break everything. We're not. So, yes, we'll use wisdom, but we prioritize our faith.

We prioritize our faith. We are not trying to convert the world. That's another thing that we need to understand. We are not trying to convert the world. Christ would say, go out and make the samples of all nations and teach them to observe all things. And a nice way of putting it was the latest letter of Mr.

Robin Weber that you received about a week ago or two. And when he says, our responsibility is to spread out the net, the fisherman's net, you know? Spread out the net. But it's God that calls the fish to get into the net. I thought that was a wonderful energy of what it is. It's not that cold. So our job is to spread out the net. But God calls, and then, so we are fishermen or men, quote-unquote, but it's only God that calls. We are not out there and directing the fish. Get out, get out into the net, you know?

Get out, scream, get out, get in the net. We're spreading out the net, and then God guides that. So we are not converting the world. We are preaching the gospel, but we're not converting the world. I don't think that sometimes our year is people say, oh well, when people have a second chance, the people are blinded today. And therefore, they never have a first chance.

And we should say, rather, when they will have their first chance, because they're blinded now, they never have a chance. And this is very clearly described. For instance, you read Romans 11, describes that very clearly. So we are preaching the gospel as a witness, so that later on they say, oh yeah, I know, I should have pricked my ears. And like the example, when somebody asked, oh well, did you have a nice Christmas or something like that, I remember, to winter family weekend, I went to one of the little shops there near the reception, where you buy Starbucks coffee and things like that.

But there, I was buying something there, and oh, I now remember, I was buying some Dibble Floss. But anyway, I was buying some Dibble Floss there, and the lady said to me, oh, have you prepared everything? Are you now prepared for Christmas? Have you prepared yourself and you're ready for Christmas? And I said, very nicely, look, thanks for asking, but I don't give Christmas, so I don't have anything to prepare for.

That way, you'll view. Oh, she said, oh, I'm sorry. I said, no, you don't have to be sorry. I know you're concerned. And I said, no, but then you have a nice tax idea. Thank you, thank you. And that was it. But again, they know that there is a difference. I wasn't pushing. If she wanted to know more, she could have asked me, well, tell me a little bit more. And then obviously, in Meekness, as it says elsewhere, in 1 Peter 3, I think it is, verse 15 and 16, it says, in Meekness and in fear, you answer more, you know, with that sort of gentle attitude.

But we must prioritize our faith. We must be prioritized. We're not compromising. So there is a difference between being balanced and not compromising. What these people use the story is, oh, well, we're just compromising, we think because we live a world we've done. That's not it. What we have to prioritize, we've got to put a priority on us. And Jesus Christ was invested because when we read the section now about Barnet says, to them, casual Christianity is the best of all worlds, encourage them to be a better person than if they had been irreligious. Yet it's not a faith in which they feel compelled to invest, to heavily invest themselves.

And we have to be fully invested in God's world. We've got to be fully committed. That's what we've got to be. We've got to be fully committed. But they do not feel a need to do so. Now, reading still in Luke 12, let's just read in verse 13 another parable, a parable of Luke 12, verse 13 through 21, a parable of the rich, full, as it's called in my Bible.

Because he has a man that is invested but is not fully invested. And therefore, this is a problem and Christ is showing that example. Then came one from the crowd and he said, hey, who made me... He says, teacher, tell my brother to divide the miracles with me. And he said to a man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you? Now, people say, tell him not to do this or whatever.

And Christ said, hey, I am not in this first coming. I am not a judge over you. Second coming, you won't be. But now he wasn't. He hadn't been put into that position. And so he said, who made me a judge? And he said to them, but he was perceiving that problem. That problem was covetousness. And he said, take heed and beware of covetousness. For one's life does not consist in the balance of things he possesses. You see, people are concerned about their physical possessions, their physical things, their security, their good life that they have, or whatever.

And so he says, and then he spoke a parable to them, saying, the ground of a certain rich man yielded plenty for him. And he fought within himself, saying, what shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops? And so he, you know, this parable. And then in verse, and then he said, well, I'll go more in this and that. And then in verse 20, God said to him, fool, this night your soul will be required of you.

Then whose will those things be which you have provided? So is he who lays out treasure for himself and is not rich towards God. In other words, our priority must be richness towards God. We must be fully invested in God and God's way and His principles and values, and not on the physical things.

That must take second place. Sure, they are important. Sure, we're going to take care of our lives, take care of our families, our children, don't report it. But God must come first. Always, that is a priority. We've got to prioritize that. And then he continues in verse 22 and 23 and says, then he said to his disciples, therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, not about your body, what you will put on.

Life, in particular, eternal life, is more than food and the body is more than clothing. And then he concludes that section there in verse 29 through 32 by saying, and do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. Don't be overly worried about it. For all these things the nations of the world seek after. And your Father knows that you need these. But seek first, as you can read that in Matthew 24, in Matthew 6, first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you.

Seek first the kingdom of God. And as you can read in Matthew 6, first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. That's what the priorities are. Seek first the kingdom of God. And then these things will come. That's the question of priorities. Seek the kingdom of God first. Now, let's go back to this little report and see what it says here about...

Because he asked another question here, which I did not read early on, which says, what are the critical elements that make the casual Christians think? What is it that kind of makes them grow, kind of motivates them? And Barna says, they comfort that this approach provides. Then further down he says, because casual Christians do not view matters of faith as central to one's purpose or success in life.

This brand of Christianity supplies the multi-faceted levels of satisfaction and assurance that they desire. Casual Christians are driven by a desire for a pleasant and peaceful existence, while captive Christians are focused on upholding the absolute moral and spiritual truths. That's by simply a method. One is for a desire for a pleasant and peaceful existence, and so we'll compromise. Yeah, we can be nice, nice people, speak nice, etc., but we'll compromise on different things, whilst captive Christians are those that put or uphold absolute moral and spiritual truths.

And it's encouraging to see that there is still a reasonable percentage of people in the States that want to uphold spiritual truths. They're not all necessarily in God's Church, but there is a field out there of people that could come to repentance in Utah, and there's a work for us to do. So, that is encouraging, but the point here is that they do not view matters of life, or matters of faith, as central to their purpose for success in life.

In other words, they're interested in a peaceful and pleasant existence, versus upholding absolute moral and spiritual truths. Let's continue in Luke 12, verse 35, where we're reading there a little bit further. It says, verse 35 through verse 37, it says, Let your waste be girded, and your lamp's burning. And this is basically Christ's advice to these people that says, Hey, seek first the kingdom of God.

And there is advice, or what must you do? He says, Look, let your lamp, let your waste be girded, and your lamp's burning. What does that mean? Your waste girded means be ready. Be ready. And your lamp's burning is be alight. Be an example. We've got to be a shining light.

Our lamp's going to be burning. It goes on. And you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when you'll return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks, they will open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes and find watching, assured they'll say to you, You'll gird himself, and have him sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. Christ, because we are committed and we are prioritizing, Christ himself will then come and serve those that are. Committed those that are ready and be alight. And if he should come in the second watch or come in the third watch and find himself blessed are those servants.

So, we can see what is the instruction. They are ready and they are being an example. And then he says, they are watching. Because in verse 37 he says, when he comes, we'll find watching. They are watching. So, there are three things here that we've got. First, they are ready. In other words, they are close to God. They are hot. They are ready. They are full of zeal. They are close to God. The lamps are burning.

Also, it needs heat for it to burn, right? It needs to be hot to be burning. And the light is shining, being an example. And thirdly, they are watching. They are watching. And that means they are taking note of what's happening around them and in their lives. So, that's why he says, watch and be ready. That you may be counten worthy to escape all these things. What we watch, we watch ourselves that we are not being quote-unquote infected by the world. And we watch about things that are going around the world.

So, we know, hey, time is near. We are not quote-unquote and aware like a thief in the night. So, we watch from those two angles, ourselves and the things around us. And if we do those three things, if we are ready, our lamps are burning. And if you are watching, what will Christ do? You will come and serve. Say, well, what a blessing that he will... I mean, I was thinking about it and I said, you know, like, imagine you're sitting at the table, you feel like saying, no, no, no, don't come and serve me. I'll serve you. I mean, and he'll say, sit down. I'm serving you now. Wow. And Christ is committed about this. I mean, you can see, he saw by his life, he gave his life a risk. There's a commitment. There's a priority. There's clearly a commitment in there from his side. Now, let's go back to Revelation 3, where we were a moment ago. We were in Revelation 3.

Revelation 3, we're going to read verse 17. And it says... well, we stopped in verse 15, so let's continue from this. So then, because you are a bit warm, and neither cold nor hot, I'll vomit you out of your mouth. Now, forever. It's a terrible feeling when you're nauseous, when you don't feel well, when you feel sick, or you've eaten something, and you know that the stomach kind of stopped, and that thing sits in there. It's a terrible feeling. I mean, you just don't feel well. And you feel like vomiting, but you can't quite vomit. You know, it doesn't come out, but it's fair. But you know, once you do it, you'll feel better. Now, this is what Christ is thinking of, if we have this attitude. That's how He feels about us. He says, well, if you don't change, it's going to come out. It sounds horrible, but it's... and then it goes on. Verse 16, 17. Because you say... now, look at it. Because you say, you are rich, or I am rich, and become wealthy, and I need nothing. Because you say... So it is something that people say. Now, is there something wrong with being wealthy, being rich? No. There's nothing wrong with being... I mean, after all, all things belong to God. The whole earth belongs to God. Everything belongs to Him. Now, just in that, look at Proverbs 8. Let's just look at Proverbs 8 briefly. I just want to look at two scriptures here about wealth. Proverbs 8. Proverbs 8. Proverbs 8, verse 18. 8, verse 18. It says, Reaches and honor are with me, enjoying riches and righteousness. Now, who's me? If you just let your eyes go back to verse 12, it says, I wisdom dwelled prudence, and find out knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is too evil. So it's basically wisdom, personified, talking, and saying, with wisdom, with wisdom, as you're reading, Reaches are honored. If we have wisdom, if we are wise, we'll be the end fruit, the end result. The riches are honor, enduring riches and righteousness. But part of the wisdom is the fear of the Lord. And as we know, in other scriptures, you remember, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So, as we have fear of God, and we prioritize and put God first, and as we put God first, we become wise, and, you know, we speak with wisdom carefully and things like that. Always putting God as a priority, putting wisdom as a priority in the right way, and putting the fear of God, and putting God first. But there will be riches at the end of that. There will be some riches. There might not just be physical, there might be spiritual.

Again, it says, as we read just now in Revelation 3, it says, you say, I'm rich. Now, it could mean, man, I am rich. Spiritual. You say, I'm rich. Spiritually. I have all this knowledge. I have all this understanding of the scriptures. I am better than you. I am whatever. Whatever. You could say, it could mean that. Not just necessarily physical reach. It could be spiritual reach. You say, I'm spiritually full of it, you know? And their heads can come a little bit too big, you know? So, be careful. Now, let's look at Deuteronomy chapter 8. Deuteronomy chapter 8, still talking about regions.

It's a very interesting scripture, Deuteronomy 8. And I'm not going to read the whole chapter, but I'm just going to highlight to you the context of this chapter, or Deuteronomy 8. Very interesting. And reading first in verse 1 says, every commandment which I command you today, you must be careful to observe that you may live and multiply and go.

And go into and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers. It was, be careful to obey God. And then you'll possess the land, and obviously all the riches of the land. So then you will be wealthy, because land is a vices of wealth. After all, and out of the land, we're all old gold and silver, etc. to come out of the land. All that's in. So, if you obey God, be careful to obey God. And then you'll have the blessings of the land. And then, if you, if you're new on time, you read the Deuteronomy 8, you'll see that it's basically saying, listen, you go, but when you go, be careful, then you forget God. Don't forget God. Because then, things are going to go wrong. But let's jump to verse 18.

But, and you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He, God, who gives you power to get wealth. It is God that gives us power to get wealth.

And so, when we have wealth, or any blessings, we need to always acknowledge that it comes from God. And not say, I am rich and increased with goods, because I did it because of my own great wisdom, or my own great self-righteous, or my own great whatever, and I've achieved it.

No, I did it and I only act by the grace of God, as a way of disseminating. We only act by the grace of God. And that's where it is. We are blessed. We've got some knowledge. We've got the truth that is the greatest riches, but it's not because of me. No, it's because of God's mercy that is given to me. Acknowledge God that is given to us.

But watch as it continues. That he may establish his covenant, which is what his father says it is, he says, Then it shall be if you by any means forget the Lord your God. In other words, if you don't acknowledge God, or what he's given you and you don't yield God, thanks. And follow other gods. What are the gods? The gods of riches. The gods of wealth. This thing, wealth, can become a god.

Things can become a god. And serve them and worship them. So things, how you dedicate your time to these material things, as if it can become a god. And so, it then continues to that. I testify against you this day that you shall utter it, or shall surely perish. So, I just wanted to go back and show you that as far as riches, but let's go back to Revelation 3, verse 17, when we were reading. And it says, because you say I'm rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing. So, they, maybe they would, they did have some spiritual knowledge that God gave them.

Maybe they did have some physical wealth. I do not know. But the point is, they do not acknowledge God. And if they have something, they should say, thank God, and humility, and thankfulness, acknowledging always God, and putting God first, they're not forgetting God. And they were forgetting God. And do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. In other words, you cannot see. And therefore, you really are very empty. You know, wealth and physical things, etc. can make your life empty.

I mean, you can feel, you can have all these things, but can have everything. Look at these actors that have earned millions and millions, and they own drugs, and they're most unhappy, because they're just taking drugs to make them happy. And they've got millions! Because wealth does not give an happiness. We have a need, and it's God's Spirit.

We are never content, unless we have God within us. And God's Spirit is a need. And living, putting God as a priority, living within God's way, is what's going to make us really content and happy. And so, Yahweh, you're wretched and miserable, poor and blind. Blind because they cannot see the real problem. They cannot see the real problem. You would... If you look at these scriptures, Yah, as parallels of the nations they're wearing, one of the things that, if you do a bit of study about the city of Laodicea, that they had big trouble, and then they got...

they had a big destruction, but they had so much money, they said to the Roman government, you know, guys don't need to help us financially. We kind of sort our own problems. So you can see how this applied to them. We are rich and we have need or nothing. We can solve the problems. And they also had a problem with the water in that area. I think it was the water, and a problem there that gave them problems with the high side.

And so... and therefore they needed to get water from far away, because they had certain problems, and they had problems with high side, and things like that. So it's interesting how, when you study the history of the cities, those things are applied to those areas as well. But the point about being blind reminds me of a section of scripture that I want to read now, as part of the point of what is it that we must do.

Because we've seen already that we must be ready, the lamps must be burning, and we must be watching. But part of that, of what else must we do, I want you to turn to 2nd Peter. 2nd Peter, chapter 1. 2nd Peter, chapter 1.

And we're turning there from the point of view of understanding a little bit more about blindness. But let's just read from the beginning of 2nd Peter, chapter 1, to get the context before we get to the point where it talks about blindness. So we're going to start in verse 1. 2nd Peter, chapter 1. Verse 1. 2nd Peter, chapter 2. 2nd Peter, chapter 3.

Somebody comes back to me and says, there's no place where he says Jesus Christ was God. He has a good example besides John 1.1, but he has a good example that he calls Christ God. He says, of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. But anyway, continue.

That's what he's saying.

This promise of being, getting the by nature, giving all diligence. Now, all diligence means we really got to be hard about this. We really got to be zealous about this. And to your faith. Now, when does it all begin? It all begins in faith. All begins in belief. We believe that this is going to happen. And therefore, we have faith. Obviously, also it's from faith to faith. So it also gives the faith of Christ that might be possible. So it's both our faith, we believe in Christ, but it's the faith of Christ that makes it possible. So it's both. Head to your faith, virtue. So what are we going to put in? First, we're going to virtue. We're going to say, hey, these are good things. We've got to do. These are virtuous things. Let's do. Then, to virtue knowledge. We've got to learn more about the world. We've got to do Bible study. Learn more. And to this knowledge, we then see things that we have to overcome. And what do we do? The next thing, we need self-control. We're going to say, whoa, I've got to change this. I've got to change that. I've got to be careful how to think about the sway. I've got to be careful that these words don't come out of my mouth. And we've got to be careful. And therefore, have the self-control, the self-discipline, or groaning. And self-control perseverance means stick to it. Keep up. Keep up a coming. Keep working on that. And perseverance, godliness. You know, words from there, because you're doing that, you're becoming more and more like God. And you're becoming, you're being hired and you're conducting more like God. And therefore, you're becoming more Godly. And to godliness, brotherly kindness. In other words, Philadelphia love. Philadelphia love, which is brotherly kindness, is love to brother in a right way. And to brotherly kindness, a godly love. Godly love. Really that love of God, which seeks always for the best of others.

For if these things are yours and abound, you'll be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So if we have this action plan, this is like a simple little action plan. A little action plan, because we trust, let's look at the virtuous things, seek for more knowledge of self-control, in those controlling ourselves, growing, persevering in those things. And as we persevere, we become more and more like God and work through death, and we godly love and brotherly love. We work on that if, if, it says, we'll not be barren nor unfruitful. In other words, we will be fruit if we work on this. For he who likes these things is short-sighted, even to blindness. You see, those in the knowledge, see, they were blind. And he says, you are blind. You can't see why, because you're not, in a humble way, working through this action plan from your faith, and getting knowledge and self-control and persevering and being diligent about these things. Because he says, you've got to be diligent! You've got to be diligent about this action plan. This is an end to end. When you are, you, you're not going to be blind, but the loudest scenes were blind. They were not following the section plan. And if we lack these things, we're short-sighted, even to blindness, and we have forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. In other words, cleansed from our old sins is when we baptized. When we baptized, we cleansed from our old sins. Now, we've forgotten that, which means baptism is only step one. Baptism is only the first step. Then we've got to keep growing and growing and growing and growing, using this action plan. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent. Be even really hotter, zealous, to make your calling, your call, and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stop. Well, if you do these things, you will never leave the spiritual body, the Church of God. You'll always be hot. You'll be there. If you do these things, you will never stop. For some, in other words, because this way, this manner, this way, an entrance will be supplied to you, abundantly into the velocity Kingdom of God. That's how you'll get into the Kingdom of God. It's through this way that you will enter. It's this way that you will have an entrance. There will be supply given to you abundantly into the Kingdom of God. This is how you'll enter into the Kingdom of God, following this process. Or think about it. This life insurance plan. Think about it. It's a life insurance plan. You'll never stumble. It's a life insurance plan. I mean, life eternal life. So this is the plan for eternal life. So brethren, what must we do? What do we must do? We must be ready. We must have our lamps burning. We're going to be watching. And we must, from faith, build up these characteristics and meditate and persevere and become a light God and aim towards that true, Godly love as we grow and mature through this. And then we are hot. Then we are hot. Because we're diligent. We're hot. We prioritize our faith. It's not a question of not prioritizing our faith, as it says here. Or a question is, they do not view matters of faith as central to one's purpose and success in life. Well, this is central to our life. Eternal life. This is central. There's no questions about it. And so, let's continue then in Revelation 3. Revelation chapter 3.

Revelation chapter 3. And it says, verse 17, blind and naked. You know, we don't want to be blind. We want to be zealous and see this. And naked. Why? Because you want to put on white clothing. Like it says, put on. You read very scriptures of Paul says, put on these things. Put off that and put on. And good scriptures for us to analyze and look about what we need to put on, so we're not naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, says verse 18. In other words, if you and I are not sensitized to the world around us, they can infect us. As I'm joking, calling it proper, they can infect us. If we are not sensitized to that, and if we're not going to be careful that we're not infected by this virus that is happening in the world, put it this way, then we could be amongst us. And if we're amongst us, then Christ says, I counsel you to go through the Great Tribulation. Matthew 6. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire. Here it was, I counsel you, I recommend you, because I haven't rejected you, but if you're not overcoming now, then I recommend you to go through the Great Tribulation. That's why it says, watch and be ready so that you may be a accountant worthy to escape. It reads that in Luke 21, 36. So if we watch and we're ready, then this scripture says, I counsel you to buy from me gold trying to find, because not apply to us. And we're really looking at something very encouraging to us that we really need to look at it now. We have an opportunity, we have time, to make sure that we are not affected by these attitudes of the world around us. Now, it is interesting that two-thirds of the world, 66% of the population of the earth, are that way. Would it be possible that 66% of the Church of God, spiritual Church of God, is that way?

And if that is the case, that means it's maybe two out of three of us. That's right. I'm not saying it's true, but I'm just saying, well, by analogy, could it mean, and it means that we really have to look at ourselves, and it says, so I counsel you to buy gold trying to find that you may be rich, truly rich, spiritual rich, and white garments that you may be clothed. And you know about the white garments.

I don't have to turn there, but in Revelation 19, it talks about the marriage of the bride, and it talks about the fine linen white, and whiteness, that fine linen white represents the righteous acts of the saints. That's righteousness. And what does it say? Seek you first the kingdom of God, and He is righteousness. So it's God's righteousness. So the righteous acts of the saints are God's righteousness that the elves have practiced, not their self-righteousness.

Because, you know, you get people that are self-righteous. No, it's God's righteousness. The righteous acts of the saints. And that is the white garments that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed, and anoint your eyes with eyesolve that you may see, so that you can see. As many as I love, I review, and can chase it. Therefore be zealous and repent, so that you don't have to go through this. And we all have to analyze ourselves, because I say, all these letters apply to every one of us.

So we look at each letter, and every one of us has something applicable to us, and we need to learn, and be aware, because that's our society. That's the society we live in. And it does affect us. It does affect us. We live in, allow the same age, basically, an age of casual Christianity. But we do have a job to do. We do have a job to do. When you read these three, these seven letters, particularly the last three, you can see that they will be living at the time of Christ. There will be these attitudes prevalent at the time of Christ. Particularly, if you look, for instance, at the letter to, for instance, the sardines, it says, be careful.

Hold fast, lest you're going to be caught like a thief in the night. Which, again, analogy with Christ in the common, thief in the night, so you're not going to be ready. So you've got to be careful. The one for the Philadelphian as well, it says, in verse 8, chapter 3 verse 8, I know your word, sieve, I've said before you an open door. And brethren, you and I have an open door. We have an open door to do the work. And it says, and no one can shut it. For you have a little strength.

Brethren, you and I have very little strength. Physically speaking, we have very little strength. As a church, we have very little strength compared to the powers of different nations in the world. We have very little strength. And you have kept my word. So we, individually, we need to keep the word. We need to be lights. We need to be the little strength we have. We need to be a light.

And if not denied my name, we must not deny Jesus Christ's name. Because that seems like speaking, we must not deny His name. So brethren, are we casual? Or do we prioritize our faith? Are we with diligence, with hot effort, adding to our faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, bradley toughness, and godly love? Are we doing that? Are we ready? Are our light shining?

Are we watching? So all these things are things that we can do to be positive. We can do it. We don't have to go through it. We can repent now. We can change now. I'm not saying that we are, but we always have to analyze ourselves and say, hey, am I being affected by this world and we need to be careful? So may God help us brethren to be more like captive to God's true way of life, to true Christianity. But at the same time, throughout it, always exhibiting the power of God's only Spirit, which is the spirit of power, but also love and of the Son of God.